What did Indian mathematicians do with zero?

Early number systems did not have a symbol for nothing. Ancient peoples used a blank space to show an empty place, but this could be confusing, since a blank could easily be overlooked. In India, mathematicians began to treat zero as a number in its own right and described how it behaves in addition and subtraction. Their work reached the Arab world, where scholars in Baghdad studied and expanded it, and later it travelled to Europe. Today the zero is so familiar that it is hard to imagine arithmetic without it, yet it took centuries for it to be accepted as a true number rather than only a placeholder.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. They treated it as a number and explained how it behaves in calculations.

  1. Step 1: The passage says they treated zero as a number in its own right and described its behaviour in addition and subtraction. Step 2. That matches the option that they treated it as a number and explained how it behaves in calculations. Answer: They treated it as a number and explained how it behaves in calculations. Why not the others: The blank space was the older practice; no ban is mentioned; the route to Europe passed through the Arab world.

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